Gynecological examination, including a pelvic exam, is an important part of preventive healthcare for all adult women. A pelvic exam is a complete physical examination of a woman's pelvic organs by a health professional, usually an OB/GYN doctor, midwife or a nurse practitioner. A pelvic exam helps a health professional evaluate the size and position of the vagina, cervix, uterus, and ovaries, to detect certain cancers in their early stages, infections, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), reproductive system problems or collect evidence in cases of suspected sexual assault.
Another benefit of a regular pelvic examination is to maintain maternal health for preventing complications. However, in urban and rural settings within under-developed countries, poor traveling conditions, lack of resources, lack of education, and economic limitations make it extremely difficult for women to receive proper preventive gynecological healthcare and antenatal care during a pregnancy. According to The World Factbook published by the Central Intelligence Agency, maternal mortality rate (MMR) for the year 2010 in Chad was 1,100 deaths per 100,000 live births and 890 deaths per 100,000 live births in Central African Republic. Many of these deaths could be prevented by regular gynecological check-ups, including pelvic examinations.
In the past, most of these gynecological examinations are performed in hospitals or clinics. Gynecological exam beds or chairs utilized in these hospitals or clinics are usually heavy and bulky examination tables that are not meant to be transported frequently. In most cases, these gynecological exam beds or chairs are custom-built for that particular purpose. However, there is a growing need for these gynecological examinations to be done off-site, outside of the hospital or clinics facilities, in-home or in remote areas, due to the growing population of senior citizens in the United States and around the world. At the same time, local in-home healthcare and assisted living for seniors are growing in the United States by leaps and bounds, increasing the demand for off-site gynecological examinations.
Medical healthcare practitioners performing in-home services are constantly faced with the challenge of not being able to provide certain medical examinations to their patients even though they are well qualified to do so. One such examination is a pelvic examination. A patient's body needs to be arranged in a precise position for accuracy and safety during such pelvic examination. Patients should be able to abduct their legs independently, move around on top of the exam bed or chair and follow instructions without difficulty during their pelvic exams. Further, patients receiving medical in-home services are often disabled individuals with medical and/or physical conditions that limit their ability to utilize a standard gynecological exam bed or chair found in OB/GYN facilities and outpatient clinics. Without the precise adjustments of a well-designed gynecological exam bed or chair, healthcare professionals practicing in-home services have to often turn down patient's request for a pelvic exam or other gynecological examinations.
As mentioned before, in many parts of the world, especially some under-developed countries in Africa, healthcare system infrastructure is extremely poor. Many villages have no clinic or hospital facility at all. Patients have to travel long distance to villages that have such facilities for their healthcare needs. Many patients are discouraged to travel such long distance to those facilities, therefore, being deprived from necessary professional healthcare as a result. Volunteers from around the world, for example, “Doctors Without Borders,” are trying their best to solve this problem by traveling to these local villages without healthcare facilities, bringing professional healthcare services to these patients directly. Such healthcare services include pelvic and antenatal exams for women who cannot travel far distance to their clinics which are often hours away. In those remote environments, healthcare practitioners most likely will have to provide their own gynecological exam bed or chair in order to perform such pelvic and antenatal examinations.
There is a need for a compact, lightweight and sturdy gynecological exam device that can be placed on a bed or other appropriate surfaces in order for the healthcare practitioner to perform a proper examination on a patient. Yet, such gynecological exam device has to be compact enough to fit into a luggage for easy transportation, such as, air travel to remote areas.
A lightweight portable pelvic exam device is disclosed in a published U.S. Patent Application No. US 2011/0306901 A1. This pelvic exam device is designed as a bed that is not collapsible or foldable for easy storage and transportation. Further, the elevation height of the bed at the pelvic end is fixed, not adjustable to accommodate different size patients.
Another adjustable obstetrical chair is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,073,094. This chair is designed to be foldable into a large size case for transportation. Once erected, there is no adjustment on the inclination of the seat back or the height of the chair. It cannot be laid flat as a table, therefore, not suitable to be placed on a patient's bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,256,817 discloses another collapsible gynecological exam chair, similar to the chair disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,073,094, not to be laid flat on the patient's bed. Both of these patents fail to serve patients who have limited mobility and/or paralysis, such as, problem standing, sitting, walking and bending.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,062 discloses a portable childbirth chair. This chair has foldable leg support panels, adjustable backrest and headrest. However, this invention is also designed as a chair which is not suitable to be placed on a flat bed. Further, this invention is specifically designed for childbirth, without any adjustment for pelvic elevation.
None of the prior art devices described above meets the objectives of the present invention, which are:                i. lightweight,        ii. easy folding and unfolding,        iii. adjustable and strong enough to accommodate patient of different sizes, shapes and weights,        iv. compact enough to fit in a luggage, preferably a standard carry-on luggage for easy storage and transportation,        v. can be laid flat as a bed or erected upright as a chair, and        vi. expandable panels at the base for stability by distributing weight on the bed for above-average size patients.        